Evan shook his head, laughing to himself. He understood where his friend was attempting to take the conversation. “I spend it with my dear friend, Ambrose, of course. What did youthink?”
Ambrose chuckled loudly. “You’re a sly one, I shall give you that, but we both know what I am referring to,” The corners of his mouth curled upwards into a smirk. “You could have asked me, you know. I would have found you a wife. A proper one.”
“A proper one? Now where would be the fun in that?” Evan laughed. “Besides, I have managed to do just fine on my own.”
“That you have. Imagine my surprise when I received word that the Duke of Giltburg had been caught in the most unexpected of snares.” He paused for dramatic effect. “Marriage.I wonder, really, how you managed to do that.”
Evan knew this conversation topic was bound to come up sooner or later. He had never really expressed much interest in the matter.
“A twist of fate. Or would you prefer to call it an intervention?” Ambrose inquired further.
“Intervention,” Evan repeated the word under his breath. Yes, that seemed to be an apt way to describe the situation. It had been all too convenient the manner in which Isadora had appeared in his lifeexactlyat the right time. “Yes, perhaps that is one way to describe it.”
“At least you are conceding on something,” Ambrose teased. “And you did this willingly?”
Evan chuckled, a low sound in the quiet room. “Willingly? That depends on how you look at it.”
Ambrose lifted a brow. “Evan, I have known you for years, and in all that time, I have never once heard you speak of wanting a wife.”
Fair enough.
His friend was not quite wrong. “That is because I did not want one.”
Ambrose leaned back, eyeing him. “And yet, here you are. A married man. Now riddle me that.”
Evan inclined his head. “You should know better now than to believe that anything I do ispredictable.”
“Pray tell, did you manage to convince her to stay?”
“You make it sound as though it is a terribly awful fate,” Evan said pointedly.
“Oh, no. I am not passing judgement. I am just trying to understand how this arrangement came to be,” Ambrose explained.
Evan shrugged. “I did not give her a choice.”
Ambrose sighed, shaking his head. “I cannot decide if that is the most honest or the most alarming thing you’ve ever said.”
A chuckle rumbled low in Evan’s throat. “Would it amuse you to know that she came to me?”
Ambrose raised a brow. “She came to you?”
Evan nodded, his smirk deepening.
Ambrose exhaled, shaking his head. “And here I thought you would require at least some persuasion before surrendering your freedom.”
“You make it sound a lot more dramatic than it was. It was simple, really. I saw an opportunity, and I took it.”
Ambrose let out a soft huff of laughter. “You make it sound like a business transaction.”
Evan arched a brow. “Is that not what marriage is? It is a contract, like most businesses. Both parties stand to gainor losesomething from it. Therefore, it is a transaction between two people, albeit a risky one.”
Ambrose studied him for a moment as though he had been stunned into silence by what his friend was saying.
“Wouldn’t you agree?” Evan asked, picking up on the silence. “You have to at least agree that I make a fair argument here.”
“Sometimes, I forget just how ruthlessly you approach life,” Ambrose spoke finally.
Evan smirked, but it did not quite reach his eyes.
